Enquiry into meanings of work and leisure: The case of professional and amateur football players and gardener

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Abstract

Leisure research and theory lack cohesion
because: (i) current definitions identify leisure as
either a period of time, an activity, or an experience;
and (ii) leisure tends to be conceptualized as the "ideal"
antithesis of alienated work. The present research is
designed to investigate meanings of work and leisure and
it is based on the premise that it is the situation within
which an activity is carried out, and not the activity
itself, that is defined as work or leisure. Analysis includes
subjects who defined football or gardening situations
as work, and others who defined them as leisure.
To account for meanings of work and leisure the
concept "personal expectations" is introduced. This involves: positive expectations, or elements which are
sought in a situation; negative expectations, or elements
the individual would prefer to avoid; and neutral expectations, or elements toward which the individual is
impartial. It is suggested that at a general level people
have an imago of work and leisure which is based on at
least one of six considerations: remuneration, time,
pressures, the nature of the task, notions of freedom, and
to a lesser extent, personal aptitudes or inclinations.
The notion of work involves negative expectations, while the notion of leisure involves positive expectations with
respect to at least one of these considerations.
At a personal level, people attach meanings to
specific situations defined as work or leisure. These
involve attitudes toward the self/others determination of
action, the self/others determination of a situation's
environment, and the strength of social relationships
within a situation. Attitudes toward these dimensions
form the basis of the individual's general orientation
toward, and definition of, a situation. The turee attitude
and the general orientation dimensions are presented as
continua between complying with negative expectations and
realizing positive ones. Although both positive and
negative expectations can be experienced in any situation,
situations defined as work are typically those wherein the
individual is oriented toward complying with negative expectations, while situations defined as leisure are
typically those wherein the individual is oriented toward
realizing positive expectations.
The Personal Expectations Theory may be useful
for predicting how a situation will be defined, for integrating and enriching existing propositions in the study
of work and leisure, and for future research.